You are here

18F Semesterly Report - Student-led census of the Trelease Woods Forest Dynamics Plot

Posted by Cathy Liebowitz on January 9, 2019

  1. Purchase of Census Materials (06/30/18): We have purchased all the equipment and materials needed for the census. Some additional small purchases may be needed near the completion of the census (nails, tags, replacement tape measurements and flagging tape) due to wear and tear.
  2. Recruitment of undergraduate student census workers (08/14/18). We recruited 34 undergraduate students from SIB, NRES, AHS and Animal Sciences to work on the census. Students spent 4-8 hours a week tagging, mapping and identifying trees. So far, we have recruited 33 students to work on the census during Spring semester 2019. About half will be returning students and will both work on the census and do independent research projects in Trelease related to the census.
  3. Student orientation and training (08/21/18): Training was completed as planned. In addition we gave students quizzes on the census methods and spent time in the field with the students throughout the semester.
  4. Development of project website (10/15/18): We have initiated the website. We will continue to build content for the website during the first part of the Spring semester whilst it is too cold to do the census.
  5. Completion of the first 12 ha of census (11/9/18): We started the census at the south side of Trelease woods, which has very high stem densities. This has slowed down progress through the plot. We have now completed around 4 ha. We will resume work when temperatures warm later in the Spring semester. We anticipate requesting additional funds this summer from LAS and ACES to allow students to work on the census over the summer break.